Microsoft's MobileFusion app turns your phone into a 3D scanner

The technology also allows the 3D capture of faces, giving a third dimension to portraits, profile pictures or images of loved ones.NEW YORK: An app enables you to create 3D scans in seconds with your smartphone good enough for a 3D printer or to be used in video games.

The MobileFusion app, developed by Microsoft Research, does not even require any extra hardware or internet connection, Tech Times reported.

"Everything happens on the phone itself," said Pushmeet Kohli, a principal research scientist with Microsoft Research.

The results are images detailed enough for a 3D printer or for instant sharing on social media.

"What this system effectively allows us to do is to take something similar to a picture, but it is a full 3D object," Peter Ondruska from Oxford University, was quoted as saying.

The way it works is simple. Open the app and point and shoot using a standard smartphone camera, as if you are taking a picture.

The MobileFusion system densely tracks the device in 3D by comparing the live camera data with the previous frames.

It will then take the current live frame and perform efficient stereo matching to generate a depth map.

The stereo depth maps are then merged into a single 3D mesh model.

The 3D model is instantaneously captured on the user's cell phone, with the system refining it as it is being built, all in a matter of seconds.